The president’s picks for Local Government Authority (LGA)’s board were submitted to Parliament for review on Monday.
The three names are Minna Rasheed of the Gender Equality sector, Ahmed "Chandelier" Hassan on behalf of civil associations, and Amir Ali of the Public Administrations sector.
The three names have been sent to Committee on National Security for review.
The parliament also forwarded the motion to appoint the leader of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Mohamed “Colonel” Nasheed, as the Ambassador of the Maldives to Thailand to the National Security Committee for review along with the motion to sign the Promotions and Reciprocal Protection of Investment between the UAE and the Maldives.
During the first tenure of this year’s parliament sittings, the parliament passed amendments to the Decentralization Act awarding full control of the board of Local Government Authority (LGA) to the president.
The previous LGA board consisted of nine members including six elected councillors. The new amendment removes all elected councillors from LGA’s board which has been reduced to five members with a minister, a female appointee from the Gender Equality sector, a member of a non-governmental organisation, a member with a background in governance or public administration, and a Chief Executive Officer. All members will be appointed by the president with the consent of Parliament.
The president is to determine the allowances to be provided to the five members who will serve a term of five years. The previous Decentralisation Act mandates a secret vote among LGA board members to elect its president and vice president. However, with the new amendment, the president will appoint LGA board’s president while the vice president will be elected from among the other member’s sans the CEO.
While President Abdulla Yameen appoints members for the LGA board, it is noteworthy that main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has achieved the majority of City Councils and the councils of the most populous islands.
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